I'm working hard on the third book in the Maxwell Saga, and have many more books planned or under consideration. Until now I've used stock images for my covers, with editing and graphic design input by Oleg Volk (who's done an amazing job - check out the covers in my sidebar for examples - and who will probably continue to design my covers, using author-supplied images). However, I'm finding it difficult to locate cover art that meets my needs for future books. Stock images are OK at a basic level, but not much further than that. I know that other authors and would-be authors are having the same problem - I'm in touch with at least five or six of them.
Trying to find someone to produce custom artwork for book covers is very frustrating. All too often one provides ideas - even a rough sketch - to an 'artist', only to have them insist on interpreting that according to their vision of how it should look. They've got it all wrong. If I'm paying, I decide how it should be interpreted. I want to hire someone who'll work with me to make my vision a reality. I don't want to waste my money on someone who tries to do it their way! If they have good, creative ideas to suggest, that's fine with me; but in the end, it's my judgment that counts. (Of course, that may sum up the difference between an 'artist' and a 'graphic designer'. One is motivated by personal creativity first and foremost; the other primarily by commercial considerations.)
Be that as it may, I've decided to try to find someone - or more than one person - who'll produce custom images for my book covers. I've priced that sort of thing carefully. I can hire someone like Luca Oleastri, a.k.a. 'Innovari' (whose images I used for the first two Maxwell book covers) for about $200 to produce a single custom image of the type and size required. He works fast (turnaround time is usually 1-2 weeks for the initial image, plus a couple of days for edits and changes), and delivers a ready-to-use 300dpi JPEG or TIFF image file. That's affordable, and a very reasonable rate compared to some other 'big-name' artists/designers. I don't want to go higher than that, because I'm not selling huge quantities of books, and I can't afford to pay the sort of rates a large publisher would be charged. For a 'beginner' artist, still making his or her reputation and wanting to build up a portfolio, I'd look to pay less than that per image; but I understand they have to eat, too, so I won't be unreasonable.
I know at least one other author who's looking for a cover artist right now. There are more - I'm in touch with at least half a dozen, and for the right person with the right attitude at the right price, I'm willing to help sell their services to everyone (because it's in all our interests to have a good artist/graphic designer available at a reasonable price). That number of authors might produce a steady income stream for the right person, perhaps 1-2 covers every month. I also know a small press imprint that might be interested in good artwork for their covers, if the price is right.
The covers have to meet the following criteria:
- They must fit the genre in question (in my case, science fiction, but other authors will fall into different categories).
- They must have a central, eye-catching image or theme that stands out and is easily recognizable in thumbnail size, and even in reduced-thumbnail size, on Amazon.com (see my covers in the sidebar for an idea of what this entails). Call it 'visual branding' for want of a better word - a central image that catches the eye. They must use text fonts, color, light and shading to be eye-catching and easily understandable in a row, or multiple rows, of other thumbnail cover images, so as to attract the attention of potential readers. (Go to a few Amazon.com book pages and look at the 'Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought' recommendations - an example is shown below. Look for images that have a clear central feature, easily identifiable despite their small size. Look for fonts that are easy to read, even when the text is tiny. Look for colors that jump out at you, catching the eye. Now look at those covers where the colors are washed-out or too dark, or titles are hard to read, or images have no central feature that expresses and encapsulates their subject matter. Makes a difference, doesn't it?)
- The images and artwork can't be overly gaudy or flashy. They have to be professional. They're going to appear alongside tens of thousands of other books with professionally-produced covers, and must be able to bear comparison with them.
If you're an artist or graphic designer who can produce computerized images of the size and quality required, and interpret either detailed instructions from an author and/or the plot of a book to design suitable images, and are willing to work for the amounts I've mentioned earlier, please contact me, either by e-mail (my address is in my blog profile), or by leaving a comment beneath this post. You should be able to provide samples of your work.
(Also, if any reader has friends or acquaintances who possess the necessary skills and experience to do this, please ask them to read this post, and suggest that they contact me. I'd love to hear from them.)
Thanks.
Peter
